- A Tumbleweeds View of Scrapping
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I would think that those that do larger scrap art would be interested in many of the interesting looking parts. Think of the stuff a artist could do with the tracks and those drive sprockets.
I would think that push blades in usable condition could be retrofitted for using on large pay loaders and such. I know that the farmers around here make all sorts of attachments for their big pay loaders.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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P76, you never cease to find interesting projects to tackle!!! Just think of what that 125+ tons cost new coming off of semi flatbeds!!!
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any chance of creating even one working machine with parts from the others?
Currently looking for a job in or related to scrap/recycling. Relocation is possible for the right offer.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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PatriotOriginally Posted by Patriot76
I was contacted and asked if I wanted to scrap some machinery. I informed the person with low scrap prices I could not afford to scrap on a percentage basis. As we talked I found out he had four Cat D-7 and three D-4 dozers, several scrapers, and misc. steel that needed to be removed so he could sell his property. The dozers range from 15 tons to 20 tons each. That is 125 tons + of metal. The icing on the cake is that they are located within ten miles of the scrap yard.
At the present time I am researching how to sell them for better than scrap price. Problem is because of their size, the logistics makes them hard to sell. Therefore this winter I might be posting a thread on how to "not" scrap a bull dozer. With the amount of torching required, snow on the ground will be a requirement.
MANY years back I use to work for this guy that purchased old heavy equipment. Some of the equipment he use to buy he had to take another Cat along to drag the things out dumps and swamps. After a good rebuild, sand blasting (my job) and paint job back on the market they went.
Just for the heck of it I googled that old #$^*()er and his son has the business and carring on where #$$%%^^& left off.
Adams Equipment Homepage
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Abuilder- Looks like they have a good gig going on there. Then again they may have the advantage of rebuilding big equipment sitting what, less than a 100 miles from a metro of 5 million people?? P76 would have to haul about 225-250 miles to a metro of 2.5 million or 140 to one of about 200K in size. Less potential buyers than your "friends" unless he went the Twin Cities route.
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Your idea of selling the material for art work is already in the process. A friend of mine is into the steam punk art and is contacting individuals to see if there is interest. I might see if I could mount one of the blades to my Massy Ferguson C 10 loader. If not others might be interested. Thanks for the ideas.
Give back more to this world than we take.
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These dozers were built originally for WWII. Today ten year old D 7 bring between $ 100,000 to $ 500,000. I cannot adjust for inflation, but I am sure I could have retired off their value in their day and time.
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Three of the machines are running. Two more could be restored with the salvaged items. Just got a call from Wyoming for the lot. We will see where it goes.
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Abuilder, thanks for the information. I will be contacting them on Tuesday. I will let you know how it pans out.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Dakota
Old man Adams use to buy equipment from all aver the US. Some of the things he use to buy and bring into the yard looked like he picked them up from WWI. LOL
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There are a couple of companies that sell, salvage and scrap farm and construction equipment. Adams is one, I should have there numbers in the office, it will be Wednesday before I go back to work though. I would pick one of these companies to do this, as they do more than just scrap equipment, lot's of money in parts, with these old machines still!
Last edited by bigburtchino; 09-07-2015 at 02:00 AM.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Patriot, you sure get the interesting ones!
Unfortunately, the stuff sounds like it is pretty well collectors item stuff -or- for the rugged individual farmer types who aren't scared of fixing machinery. If you can deal the whole works off to someone who will give them a good home....I wouldn't hesitate for long to decide!!
Burning them apart will be a royal pain. You have the experience with heavy burning so I'm sure you can do it. But getting into each compartment in the back end of the cats will get you a geyser of burning oil which will slow down the effort, even if you take the time to drain each compartment. Just not a lot of fun.
I've got one of those D7's, built in 1957, with the 2 cylinder gas pup motor on the side, just like in the photo. My machine has a blade lifted by hydraulic cylinders rather than the cable blade shown. I've also got a 1952 cat D8 with a cable blade just like the photo.
Tried to get $10,000 for the D7 10 years ago. A few farmer types looked but no one was very interested.
The key is the tracks: If the track chains are shot, when you try to use the machines, the tracks want to come off. Not fun to reinstall. No easy way to fix, other than replace the chains, and usually the rollers, track sprockets and front idlers need to be replaced, too. Big bucks, unless you have a machine shop and lots of spare time. About the only thing that is easy to fix on the undercarriage is that you can weld new grouser bars on the track pads to improve traction.
My D7's tracks are rags. It is no good for anything but pulling a disk on my farm, on flat ground. Any work in the rough and the tracks are falling off.
My D8's tracks are for some reason, in real good shape. It needs some new rollers, though. Not sure how I lucked out, but I purchased the machine 8 years ago for well under $5K.
I expect you would get more interest in the D4's as they are smaller and more people are interested in them for pushing snow and the like. Easier to fix, too. Things aren't so heavy. My father-in-law had one, and it was a tough little devil. Same issue with bad tracks and undercarriage, though. Got any pictures of the D4's? Are they old enough to be the side fuel tank machines?
Finally, the newer machines are faster and 'way easier to operate. I have a 1978 D6 that has a more modern torque converter drive and a powershift transmission. And power-assisted clutch/brake steering. To operate the old D8 gearjammer you need to be a musclebound octopus playing a concerto with all the control levers. The D6 can run rings around the D8 in terms of productivity, and that's what counts today.
Keep having fun and photos are a must!!
Jon.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Thanks Abuilder!! Just shows my naivete about heavy equipment. When there's potential of 10s of thousands or even six-figures are involved, there's justification in the cost to transport across the country...
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Today became a milestone in my second career. I finally had to admit I am not a full time scrapper anymore. A lot of time is still spent preparing loads, but since the price for unprepared dipped to $ 20 per ton it does not make sense to focus on scrapping when my time could be better spent training horses, hunting and fishing. Still stock piling, but the focus has been redirected to survival instead of recycling.
It is disappointing the amount of scrap that is headed to the landfills instead of being recycled. The best guess is, it will only increase the value of scrap in the future. For those full time scrappers out there, congrats, good luck, and keep on scrapping, For those of us on the sidelines. hopefully the times will change.
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Went to an auction yesterday owned by a local scrapper. He had tractors, loaders, and gooseneck trailers that were sold. I bought two chemical totes and a huge tank. I will use the tank to build a fencing trailer and the totes for copper. At the end they asked for bids on the scrap in the yard. I did not win the battle, but won the war. The winning bid was a big time scrapper with finances and storage space. He has over 100 vehicles on his property waiting for prices to improve. He has to haul it over 100 miles to stockpile this cache. He has a semi, loader, and skid steer.
I could have done the job, but did not have room to stock pile and given my age and scrap prices did not want to gamble. He told me to take everything left behind at no cost. The best part is the property will be sold and if everything works out right I will be hired to return the property to original condition.
Now the icing on the cake, the owner of the scrap yard hired me to scrap all the machinery he had bought at auctions throughout the county over three decades without time limits. The challenge will be finding all of it and waiting until prices start to improve.
Last edited by Patriot76; 10-28-2015 at 03:24 AM. Reason: grammar
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Since scrap prices have rebounded recently, I am back in business and decided to recycle this thread. I am a full time scrapper that has stock piled the metal for the last two years. Many on the forum advocated for turn and burn instead of stock piling. My strategy was lock and load and now it is time to fire the warning shots. Neighbors are amazed that I could hold out without cashing in, but they are impressed with the strategy. Please understand this strategy will not work for everyone.
If the technology will be cooperative, you will see the latest efforts to this goal.
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Scrap still down here why sale now?
BUYING ALL COMPUTER SCRAP WORKING OR NOT
CHECK OUT MY BUYERS THREAD http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...nic-scrap.html
https://getjunk.net/Knox-County-TN-0...Recycling.html
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Don't forget the pics.
Cash In The Trash
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There is no "set" price for scrap. It's all about supply/demand economics.
There has been a slow down in global manufacturing, so most basic metals are not very high - and probably won't go back up for a long long time.
( Note: for some reason pure tin keeps going up. $8 /lb scrap wholesale last I looked )
You could easily end up in a situation that happened in the 50's into the early 70's were scrap steel was so cheap, scrap value was lower than the cost of scrapping it.
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Scrap is up to $ 100 and $ 120 a ton here instead of the $ 10 or $ 20 over the last year and a half. I now have my semi tractor and trailer so I get a bonus on top of my business price. I have a good relationship with the yard and the manager has toured my operation and stockpiles. When he is low on a certain commodity to finish a load he calls with an even better price because he knows I can provide it within 24 hrs.
The ability to haul 30 tons with the semi instead of a limit of six tons on my other trailers makes the 100+ mile round trip more economical. Six farms are stacked with iron the owners are tired of looking at and I have picked up three new farms. If nothing else moving this iron will be positive PR. Now the real reason, I am bored and miss the lifestyle.
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